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stooshie45629 karma

He was 13, literally barely even a teenager. It's easy to apply adult logic to the situation, but as a minor he was incapable of making responsible decisions. That's what makes the entire thing ludicrous to me that a court would sentence a child - a literal fucking child - to life without parole and throw them in solitary? How is that even in the realms of reasonable? The poor kid needed help, not locking up.

So, I think he's taken a totally fair level of responsibility, given how old he was at the time.

stooshie4529 karma

See other comments. Most do, but those with no role models, no one to teach them. No one to guide them? Born into a situation where no one cares about them? Opened up to manipulation, abuse?

Yeah. Most 13 year olds with decent care givers and support systems know right from wrong. Those that don't don't deserve to be punished, they deserve a chance to be guided and helped, for once in their lives.

stooshie4517 karma

No, I wouldn't.

I'd be devastated for so many reasons. But my blame would lay squarely with his caregivers - whether that be his parents or the system that was supposed to be there to guide and protect him.

stooshie4513 karma

It genuinely baffles me how people here can't seem to wrap their heads around this concept... like yeah obviously 13 year olds have a concept of death and what's right and wrong. But this child was coerced into something as part of a gang initiation. Quite how messed up your upbringing needs to be for you to even get to the point where you're being handed a gun when trying to join a gang just makes it even more tragic.

It's like saying that a child who was sexually abused isn't a victim because they should have known better and just put a stop to it. Children are easily manipulated, even more so when they have suffered during their upbringing.

People here can't separate the man they see before them now, and the 13 year old boy he was when it happened. The lack of empathy is actually frightening.

stooshie455 karma

A very valid point. I don't know what's common parlance in the US so this phrase feels just as alien to me as a lot of other American phrases. Thanks for pointing it out.